Issues on Evaluation of Educational Development Projects and Programs

Abstract

The number of Japanese international cooperation projects in the education sector has been on the increase, as defined through The Millennium Development Goals (which provide a universally shared framework for development) and through the movement of international aid coordination; the accumulated results of these projects have been evaluated as follows. Compared overall to projects in other fields, the projects in the education sector generally had a high value. However, whether or not overall goals or long-term goals, such as lasting impact or sustainability, have been achieved will be unclear without considering results of program evaluation and policy evaluation. Program evaluation that has been done until now shows the following: On the one hand, some programs have been effectual in the expansion of the educational platform and the improvement of discrepancies in educational conditions between males and females; on the other, outcomes do not easily appear because individual projects are not always originally envisioned as a part of a program, and consequently programs become patchworks of projects. In regarding policy evaluation, while the impact of programs, as defined as the improvement of macro indices, are clear, it is uncertain how much change has been caused by the above-mentioned projects. Plainly, program-and-policy conscious project planning is essential.